Technology-Rich Learning

Technology is very important in the classroom. It can be used in so many different ways to enhance learning. As teachers our job is the use technology as a tool to support students and learning. I enjoy creating/enhancing lessons with multiple different technologies. When I was a fourth grade science teacher the lessons were based off the textbook. I had to find different activities to engage and help students learn the different concepts. One of my favorite lessons to teach was circuits. During this lessons I used multiple different programs and activities on the computer to help engage students. There we also multiple hands on activities where students created their own circuits. These activities would be spread out of a two or three week period. The textbook we used was digital so that was displayed on the interactive TV. After we read the textbook and did the activities contained in it, I would have the class complete an Edpuzzle or two. These are videos with questions imbedded throughout. The video would play on the TV and students would answer the questions individually on their Chromebook. I assigned students a Circuits Digital puzzle to complete. They could do this as many times as needed for review of difficult concepts. The picture below is an example of these two things.

Google Classroom was also used often to assign different activities. I would assign students a Types of Circuits Google Slides activity where they had to complete circuits, match vocabulary, and complete short answer questions. We regularly did a Blooket over the entire unit. This was either assigned in Google Classroom or completed as a class. Picture below is an example.

I learned about come of this technology from colleagues during COVID. We were constantly share new technology to better help with distant learning. I continued to use these technologies after COVID because they are very useful. When lessons are presented to me I work to find technology and resources that will help enhance learning. The more ways information is presented the more students I am able to help learn. This lesson was student-centered. Electricity and circuits are a difficult concept to understand. After the textbook lesson was completed, a demonstrations, and doing an Edpuzzle as a class, students were able to complete most of the other activities at their own pace. They had a date that all activities need to be done. I was able to help students that need more instruction and just checked in as needed on other students. Students were given multiple opportunities to show their knowledge. Students were also given multiple opportunities to experiment with creating circuits. I believe it is very important to keep students engaged with hands on activities. The technology I used help enhance this lesson. I used some programs that were already created and changed questions/content to better fit the standards I was teaching and to better support my students. This was one of my favorite lessons to teach as a fourth grade teacher because the students enjoyed the different activities they got to complete. If I were to teach this lesson again I would work on making more original content to use. Maybe creating my own video to put on Edpuzzle or having students create a video or digital game. There are some many ways to have technology-rich classroom. It is all about what works best for the teacher and students.